How to Hire a Website Designer without Getting Burned

I’ve never hired a web designer except for very small projects. I have, however, been hired to design or redesign about a dozen websites and spent the last 5 years collecting the top 10,000 web design job posts.

That puts me somewhere between expert and total noob on the subject. And if you ask me, that’s the best type of person to learn something from!

So here’s the first in a series of tips on how to make sure you hire the right person for your design project (as observed from some of the world’s smartest companies’ job posts):

1

Basecamp asks applicants to show why they want to work for Basecamp specifically.

When Basecamp posts a job, they don’t ask you to fill out a form or submit a resume.

At Basecamp, we have a long standing history of favoring candidates who put in extra effort in their applications. Whether that’s a video of you introducing yourself or making us a custom website — that’s all up to you. We want to know if you’re qualified, a good fit, and most importantly, you want this job and not just any job.

See, the truth is you can’t really tell whether you should hire someone from a resume or portfolio alone, no matter how awesome they might be.

Instead of trying to do that, Basecamp looks for effort.

The result is Basecamp gets to see the actual design and communication skills that they’re hiring for — in action.

It essentially guarantees that the people they hire will be able to do the job because in order to get the job they have to do the job of communicating persuasively.

So the next time you hire designer, think about this:

One of the most design-centric companies in the world can’t make a decision of who to hire based solely on past work.

They need more context. They need to see something created from scratch before they make their decision. (Note: they also do a paid test project once they’ve narrowed down their candidates.)

If Basecamp can’t hire a designer based off of a resume and portfolio alone, why would you think you can?

Don’t.

Instead ask your design candidates to create a custom application that shows why they want to work on YOUR project — not just any project.

And don’t stop there.

Follow through, and actually favor the designer or design firm that shows the most effort in the process.

They’re likely to be the best person for the job.

I’m going to be discussing more interesting ideas I’ve noticed in the next few weeks.

Want to share your company’s favorite hack for hiring a designer?

Tell me over at my new virtual coworking space. It’s a place for designers and founders to help each other build awesome companies.

I’m there and so are a lot of other cool people.

See you there!

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